Cruiser Finale'

I've been tinkering with this cruiser project for quite some time now and I think the photo above is the final product. I have a pile of parts left over from, springer forks to half moon handlebars. The bike started out as a 1950's Colson, private branded for a MPLS hardware chain. I bought the complete bike for 20 dollars at a garage sale outside of Wilton WI. I rode that version of this bike for a decade. Pictured below.

Almost a year ago, I busted the bike down to the bare frame and sent it out to be stripped and then powder coated. New wheels with a 3 speed rear hub...a new springer fork and handlebars got bolted on after some sweet vynil graphics were expertly applied by my friend Cory up at his sign company in Slinger, WI. The bike looked very cool at this point, but the fork was so noodly that it was a bit scary to ride.

I rode the springer for most of the spring and summer and then the hardest part of the restoration took place, when I sought to replace the headset and fork. These older cruisers all have 1" stertubes, but the ID of the headsets are one of maybe 3 different specs. My colson's head tube measured 33mm in diameter, so after much contemplation disguised as confusion, I shared my dilema with Jim at Ben's Cyclery and he told me that they had the tool to ream my head tube to 34mm, which is a modern day 1 1/8" headset spec! Another, new headset, fork, and stem later, my chopper was born!

I tooled around a bit in MKE on the bike with the full chopper effect and decided to cut the ride short and take her home and ended up trimming 4" off of the fork legs. The new fork was everything that I had hoped.  The new front end was sturdy and bomber. The bike now rode beautifully, downhill and tracked like a big cat.......but what goes down, must go up and Twin Lakes is hilly. Climbing was awkward, due to my hand position being so far back towards my hips. I could slide my hands a good, 5" forward on the moon bars and grind out the climbs, so I started looking at bars all over the internet.

I ordered a set of bars from Soma and then spied a set of these Sadio 420 bars on a photo in Flickr. I emailed, Earl at Ben's and he had them in stock. I bolted these suckers on and as soon as I straddled the bike and rolled down the drive, I knew this was going to work. Perfect climbing leverage out of the saddle, is how I would describe the effect that these bars had on the ride. Not as cool looking as the half moons, but functional and bad ass! I've now got a cruiser that I could ride anywhere around my house....I think I could ride this bike off road now! So it was a long and winding road that left many used parts in its wake, but the cruiser project is DONE!

Neglect

Much of my blogging energy is going into www.fat-bike.com. I'm chasing my passion and it feels really good!

Gravel-Time

I saw the white river trail hooker today and once again I tried to shoot a picture, but (once again) my camera malfunctioned. I'm pretty sure that this chick is a witch or some sort of spirit. Today she had on red like gym shorts.....the other weird thing was that I could tell it was her before I could even see her.....like she was just a dot on the horizon and I started to get my camera out cuz I just knew it was her......totally fucking weird!

Here's something that isn't funny. Trail Advocacy Politics.

Shit is go'n down Muh-Fuggahz...

Butch is building some sick fucking trail out at Canopy....the Beer Run Trail is gnome-crazy.

So what are you doing that's cool?

Help Trail Advocacy at Kettle!

Ladies and Gents,

We're trying to get our Trail Advocacy Organization to adopt a set of bylaws that would accomplish 4 main goals.

 - Open and Fair Elections of an expanded Board of Directors

 - Term Limits for Board Positions

 - Financial Transparency and Regular Financial Reports

 - Establish our Organization as a Chapter of IMBA

Our organization is currently run as a closed system, with no process in place for any new Board Members to be added or for the replacement of current Board Members. Currently members of our organization have no information about the chapter finances. After several attempts to ascertain the cost of the new Muir Archway, I still cannot get our current Board to divulge the actual cost. We are currently a WORBA Chapter. WORBA has been dormant for nearly a decade. They have not had a President in office for the last 7 years. WORBA has no pulse. Our neighboring mountain bike trail advocacy organizations (CORP - Madison & Metro - Milwaukee) have chosen to become IMBA Chapters in response to the current WORBA situation. 

I ask that you consider the new bylaws and decide for yourselves, whether you support these policy changes. That's right....we're asking you to think for yourselves and choose between a closed board with financials that are a complete mystery VERSUS an openly elected board that will be required to provide its members with regular financial reports. In addition we would like you to decide whether it is in the best interests of our organization to remain a chapter of WORBA or become a Chapter of IMBA.

How ever you decide, I would like you to send Paul Sandgren an email letting him know how much you appreciate the excellent mountain bike trails at Kettle Moraine and his steadfast support of the Mountain Bike Community. In addition I encourage you to share YOUR decision about what the future direction of our Trail Advocacy Organization should take. Paul's email is - paul.sandgren@wisconsin.gov.

Thank you and Happy Trails!

g